A Calgary councillor candidate in Ward 5 says he is unafraid after one of his election signs was vandalized with “c**n balls” — a derogatory term for a Black person — a swastika and the N-word.
While he is unafraid, Raj Dhaliwal told Global News on Saturday that the vandalism is uncalled for.
“These things should never happen, regardless of where we live, but it happened, and when I came over here, I felt very, very disturbed, especially in this community where I grew up,” he said.
“I was raised on these streets, and all these people are my friends and my family, and seeing something like this close to a school was very disturbing to me.”
Dhaliwal said he plans on reaching out to his strength — the people in his community — to dismantle discrimination through discussions.
“It gives me another action to put into my plan so we get community-driven programs to include everyone, regardless of where they come from, their background, their race or whatever. Let’s work together,” he said.
“These are the actions that are done typically by fringe elements who are on the periphery of the society… These kinds of actions will not deter us from moving forward together in the future and building a better community. We, as a community together, will definitely come up with a plan so we can eradicate such a mentality forever.
“It might take some time, but we are ready to do that.”
Global News reached out to police on Sunday to ask if they are investigating. Police responded on Monday, saying the incident was not reported to them but they plan on contacting the candidate.